Praise God for the significant weekend events last week that is now over. The flood of activities are behind us and we can breathe a sigh of relief. However, such activities are not meant simply to pep us up, only for us to return to ‘business as usual’ after the celebrations, and then wait for the ‘next big thing’, like Christmas, to prop us up again.
Sure, the implication of our Lord’s words, ‘It is finished’, tells us that the redemptive work of Christ on the cross is now completed and the way of peace with God is now sealed. Nothing else needs to be done or added. Heb. 10:11-14 reminds us, ‘11 And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. 14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.’
Recorded in the last chapter of Luke, following the resurrection, we read of two disciples of our Lord walking along the Emmaus Road. As they conversed, Jesus came up to them, striking a conversation with them. Resulting from the encounter, we read in vs. 32 concerning the two disciples – ‘They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?”’
Food for thought:
- Jesus desires to walk with us. It is one thing to worship God with our whole heart, soul and mind within the confines of a church building, but as we walk away from church, we need to have Jesus to journey with us along our many pathways, in the hustle and bustle of daily life in the marketplace. While we are grateful to be in church to remember our Lord in His painful death and glorious resurrection, we need to walk with Him in our daily routine in life.
- The resurrection of Jesus is a fact solidly prophesied throughout the Scriptures. For instance, Luke 24:25-27 records, ‘25 And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!26 Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.’ Not only was it prophesied in Scripture, it was attested by Jesus’s post-resurrection appearances, including here in this passage, in the presence of the two disciples. Yes, Easter Sunday this year may have taken place on 1st But it was no April Fool’s joke/prank. Praise God for the reality of the empty tomb.
- We serve a living Saviour. We cannot escape from the demands of living in a fast-paced society. Every day we are swarmed with work, household chores and family needs. It is so easy for us to be drowned by all these that clamours for our attention. Be that as it may, thank God for the joy of knowing Jesus and the privilege of serving Him. May the aftermath of Easter celebrations this year nudge us on to greater service for our risen Saviour.
Elder Richard Lai
